Stalemate
by theLegendoftheDekuShrub
Summary: For once in the Lucas' life, he was being forced to deal with a problem that had nothing to do with the school's black hole. After playing a game of chess with Josie, Lucas realises that facing his fears are not as difficult as he initially imagined. JL
1. Chapter 1

Lucas was not having a good day. Though, strangely enough, it have nothing to do with the black hole the school was sitting on top of. She was stuck in his head again, and it was worse than usual this time. Every waking thought, she filled his head to the point of no return.

Every time Lucas' head would fall into his pillow after saying goodnight to Marshall, he was fall into a deep sleep of dreams about Josie. Who would have thought that a science geek like him would have fallen for the skater girl like her? Maybe it did have something to do with the black hole after all…

Lucas and Marshall were sitting outside during lunch having an argument.

"Look Lucas. Just because he has a computer chip for a brain, does not mean that he has infinite knowledge."

"I never said that. He would have the equivalent knowledge, data and programming of the computer chip. And with a computer chip like that, it may as well be infinite." Retaliated Lucas.

"That's virtually impossible," Marshall stated.

"You'd think that with us being in the science club and all, your definition of 'virtually impossible' would have changed by now."

Marshall looked like he was about to say something, then he thought better of it. "Good point."

Corrine sat down next to Marshall. "Hey guys. Have you seen Josie? We were supposed to work on our English assignment together but I haven't been able to find her."

"Nope," Lucas said.

"Typical Josie," Marshall said with a laugh.

"This is not funny, Marshall. It's due next period and she hasn't even started her part of the work yet." Corrine said, getting hyped up.

"I think I just found her," Lucas said, looking off to his left. Marshall and Corrine followed his line of sight.

The school had recently put a new speed bump in the parking lot, perfect for the skaters to practice their Ollie's and 360s. Josie raced at full speed over the bump, flipped her board and gracefully landed and rolled towards them.

"What's up?" She greeted them.

"Josie, you were supposed to meet me for the English assignment." Corrine started lecturing her.

"Corrine, calm down. I've got it all under control. My part of the assignment is in my bag." Josie fumbled through her backpack and produced the paper.

"When did you do this?" Corrine asked. Josie said she hadn't even started when she woke up.

"During social studies. I was so bored that the only bearable thing to do was to finish it," Josie said.

"Oh. Well, thanks." Corrine said.

Lucas smirked. She could be so unpredictable sometimes.

The bell went to signal them all to class.

While Corrine and Josie had English, Marshall and Lucas had advanced mathematics together. Normally Lucas would be intensely focused in maths, but he still couldn't get his mind off Josie. He wished he had the courage to ask her out. _She probably likes Vaughn anyway. _

Lucas hated being jealous of Vaughn. Sure, he was fit and athletic, but he was living proof that evolution _can _go in reverse. And despite being in the science club, it's not like it had improved his personality any. Lucas had always seen him as simply Victor's son, who was not to be trusted and didn't belong hanging out with them. And he was right. He was only planted there by his father to act as his spy. Perhaps that's why he hadn't been handing around with them as often as usual.

Apparently Josie and Vaughn weren't on speaking terms at the moment. Probably yet another lie that Vaughn had got himself tangled up in.

_At least she can always trust me, _Lucas thought.

"Lucas. You okay? You seem kind of quiet lately. Is this about Josie?" Marshall asked.

Lucas sighed. "Do you think she still likes Vaughn?"

"Nah. After the stuff he just told his father about the vortex, I don't think Josie will ever forgive him."

Lucas had to admit. Hearing that made him feel a whole lot better. Marshall observed a smile creep onto his friends' face. Lucas tried to hide it by looking down at his work. It was a feeble attempt.

"Just ask her out, Lucas. Whenever she's in trouble, who's the one that she always comes to for help?"

Lucas remained silent, too shy to say anything.

"Trouble in paradise?" Tyler asked, turning in his seat.

"Get lost, Tyler," Lucas said. He was not in the mood to deal with the most arrogant bully of the school right now. Or ever.

Tyler ignored him. "Word of advice, Randall: Trent's way out of your league."

Lucas scoffed. "Right, thanks for that Tyler," he said sarcastically.

The end of school bell rang, just in time to end their conversation with Tyler. Who did he think he was anyway?

It was just the four of them, plus Z at the science club that day. Z had managed to get his hands on a bucket full of dry ice.

"Now," started Z, walking around their desks. "Before we do nuts, can anyone explain to me why the carbon dioxide gas released from the experiment floats to the ground, rather than up?"

They all knew the answer, and Z knew it, though they were all too lazy to raise their hand. Expect Corrine.

"Carbon dioxide has a higher density than oxygen as carbon dioxide has a molar mass of 44, whereas oxygen has a molar mass of 32, therefore the carbon dioxide sinks to the bottom, where it sits under the oxygen in the room." Corrine recited.

"Textbook, Corrine," Z said.

"Can we play with the fog now?" Josie groaned impatiently.

"One more question," Z said, getting excited.

Josie let her head collapse on the table. Lucas observed how tired she looked. He wondered what was bothering her.

"Josie," Z said. "You seem like you want to answer this question. Why shouldn't one touch dry ice?"

"Are you kidding me? Do you want to get frostbite?" Josie said, laughing at him.

Corrine was almost about to explode, from withholding the answer.

"Yes, Corrine. I know you know the answer. What about you, Lucas? You've been unusually quiet today."

Marshall tried to explain why. "Yeah, that's because he can't stop thinking about-"

Lucas hit Marshall in the side before he could utter another word. Luckily for Marshall he hit like a girl. "Like Josie said. Solid carbon dioxide is extremely cold. I think it's something like negative hundred Fahrenheit. If you touch it with your hand you will get frostbite and severely burn yourself."

"Excellent Lucas. Now we can play with it."

Z lifted the bucket of dry ice into the sink. Since Josie was so excited about this experiment, he let her do the honours. Josie turned the tap on and the gas immediately filled over the sink and spread across the floor like mist. The bucket held so much dry ice that the gas kept on flowing.

"It's like we're walking on clouds," Josie said with a huge grin across her face as she danced around the room. She looked so beautiful in that moment that Lucas felt an electrifying sensation run through his body. He wanted to kiss her, but he would never have had the courage.

When all the dry ice had fully reacted, it left about two feet of mist in the science room. Josie was right. It was like walking on clouds. All four of them laughed with beaming smiles on their faces while Professor Z watched them in delight. This was why he loved teaching. Especially teaching his four favourite students. He often wondered how he had ever taught at a school without them.

After science club, the four of them met in the TV room to watch one of the movies that Marshall had downloaded from the internet. However, Marshall and Corrine couldn't stay to watch the whole thing. They were going on their first date that night. Corrine had been fretting on and on about it to Josie in their dorm for the entire week. Though in Josie's mind, Corrine had nothing to worry about. They were both already head over heels for each other.

An hour later, Marshall and Corrine left to go out to dinner at a restaurant a few blocks away from Blake Holsey.

"See you later," Lucas and Josie said.

"Take care of Lucas for me, Josie."

"I sure will," Josie laughed, looking at Lucas.

After Marshall and Corrine left, both Lucas and Josie had lost interest in the movie. It wasn't as fun watching Marshall's movies without him. Instead Lucas set up the chess board.

"I will beat you this time, Lucas Randall," Josie said, with determination in her voice.

"I'm sure you will," he teased.

"Just let me win once. Just this once." She pleaded.

"I can't make any guarantees."

Josie pouted. "Oh well. At least you'll always lose at hearts."

"Well, you can't be a genius at everything," he shrugged, remembering his chronic losing streak.

For the rest of the night they continued to bicker and talk, as Lucas captured almost all her pieces, rendering her king completely defenceless. Though, being Josie, she refused to give up.

"You're going to have to give up sooner or later. You only have one pawn left and he's not even anywhere near your king."

"You're right." Instead of surrendering her king, Josie moved her pawn to the far end of the board. "Ha. I get my queen back."

Without a word, Lucas took Josie's resurrected queen with his rook which had been left forgotten on the corner of the board, until now.

Lucas smirked. Josie blinked.

"I hate you," she said.

"I'm going to take that as a "You win, Lucas."" He laughed.

"No way, you haven't checkmated me yet."

"It's clearly a stalemate. You can't just keep your king running around the battlefield surrounded by all his fallen men. And not only has your king lost the love of his life, but when he had finally been given another reason to hope, your queen basically kills herself before she can move."

"Yeah, no thanks to you. And hey, I took your queen too. At least my king got to see his love one more time."

"Sure, only to get slaughtered again."

Josie tried to suppress a laugh. "That's completely irrelevant."

"You're impossible." Lucas said.

"Rematch?" Josie challenged him.

"Bring it on," he said, as he started resetting the pieces.

It was going to be a long night.

**AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm not sure how many people still read Black Hole High fanfiction since it's ten years old now, but if you guys like it enough I'd be happy to continue. So tell me what you think. **


	2. Chapter 2

As predicted, Lucas won the second game of chess.

Josie yawned. "What time is it?"

Lucas looked at his watch. "It's only 9.30pm. You seemed really tired during science club today."

Josie shrugged. "I guess all that skateboarding today tired me out. I almost fell asleep in English."

Lucas decided to let it go. "What do you want to do now?" He asked her, sensing she had had enough of chess for one night.

"Preferably something which I don't have to use my brain for. I'll probably pass out any minute now."

"Come on," Lucas said getting up. "I'll walk you to your dorm."

"But I was having fun hanging out." Josie said.

Lucas smiled. "I promise I won't go anywhere."

Josie smiled up at him and took his hand as they headed to Josie's room.

"Are your hands always this cold?" He teased.

"Sorry," she said shyly. "But yeah. I get it from my grandma. Your hands are nice and toasty. It's ... nice."

Lucas squeezed her hand, trying to encompass that warmth she liked.

Being around Lucas made Josie feel a warm fuzzy feeling inside. While Josie wasn't the type to feel insecure without a man in her life, she felt happy and safe with Lucas, more so than she had ever felt with Vaughn.

Josie turned the light on in her dorm. As usual, Corrine's side of the room was in pristine condition. Josie's on the other hand was a living pig sty. Though he didn't say anything. He knew that she knew he was thinking it. Letting go of his hand Josie went about her best attempt at cleaning. She shoved all the items off of her bed and into the floor in between the bed and the wall. Then she kicked some shoes, textbooks and clothes under the bed, all in a matter of five seconds.

"All done," Josie muttered proudly to herself. She then climbed onto the bed, crossed her legs and invited Lucas to join her.

Hesitantly, Lucas sat near Josie, one leg hanging off the bed. "I thought you were tired." He said.

"I am. But we were having so much fun that I didn't want it to end," she said quietly. It was evident from her voice how sleepy she was.

"I had fun tonight too. We should hang out more often, you know... just the two of us."

"You'll need to start letting me win at chess more often though." She laughed. "But that would be good."

For ten seconds they sat in silence. It wasn't awkward like most silences between two people, but comforting.

"We should play a game," Josie suggested.

"Haven't we played enough games tonight?"

"Not a board game. A would you rather game, or a question game, I dunno."

Lucas could sense that the more tired Josie became, the more she let her guard down. She seemed more open than usual. "Okay, how about a question game?"

"Sure. You go first."

Lucas let his eyes wander the room as he searched for a question to ask Josie. His eyes landed on the corner of a notebook sticking out from under her pillow.

Lucas smirked. "Remember that time when you thought Vaughn stole your journal?"

"Which he did!" She interjected.

"What were you so worried about that he would find?"

"Mainly vortex stuff. I still don't know what happened to those pages." Josie shrugged. "Just normal stuff. I use it to vent about a lot of things. Like how I wish my mum didn't have a stupid top secret job she can't talk about and how she keeps sending me off to different schools all the time without warning. It's hard sometimes," she admitted, looking down at her covers. Then, Josie leaned back on the bedpost and lifted her side of the covers and slide under, as if trying to shield herself from just opening up.

Lucas rested a reassuring hand on Josie's. "It must be tough. Being at boarding school doesn't help. I miss my dad a lot. We haven't been fishing or anything in ages."

"You're lucky. At least you get to do things like that with your dad. I don't even know who mine is. Though, I guess he must be pretty lousy since he left."

Lucas looked down at her, giving her a sympathetic look. "I thought this was supposed to be a fun game."

Josie smirked. "Right. Umm... let's see."

"Wait, I have another one. Out of all the weird stuff that has happened 'cause of the vortex, what was your favourite thing that's happened?

"Hmm... Ah. I know. The sponges."

"The sponges? They were the worst!" Lucas groaned.

"Watching you, Z and Marshall singing to them was the funniest thing I ever saw." She giggled.

Lucas grinned with her. "_I can't live without you," _he sung, causing her to erupt in laughter. Lucas loved it when she laughed.

"What about your favourite thing?" Josie asked in between her laughing fit.

"I have no idea. At the time I thought some things were great, like being older and having my DNA changed, but in the end, I like who I am. I can tell you the worst thing about the vortex though."

"What?" Josie asked, leaning on her elbow.

"The worse thing about the vortex was when Vaughn and I switched bodies."

"How come?"

"Because ... it was me who was supposed to kiss you." Lucas couldn't believe he even had the nerve to admit that to Josie. He suddenly became anxious, fearful that she might reject him.

"Well," Josie started. "From my point of view, I guess I was kissing you, not Vaughn."

"Yeah, but that's because he was in my body."

Josie leaned up so she was level with Lucas. "No. During that play, _we_ were the ones who had rehearsed the lines. I was kissing you."

"Yeah, well. It was still pretty crappy that I wasn't even there for my own first kiss."

Catching him completely off guard, Josie lent towards Lucas and kissed him, resting her hands on his shoulders. Just as Lucas was beginning to recover from the shock of the kiss and react, Josie pulled away. "Happy now?" She teased.

"No, not really," Lucas said, grinning. With every ounce of courage that he didn't even think he had, he cupped Josie's cheek in his hand and kissed her passionately, wanting more. He smiled into the kiss when he heard her moan. Josie's hand rested on his chest while they kissed slowly, working out their rhythm for the first time. Josie pulled away again, but this time in desperation for air.

"Wow," she breathed.

Lucas entwined his fingers with Josie's.

"Josie?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go out tomorrow night?"

"I've love to," she smiled.

Resting back down on the pillow, Lucas snuggled up to Josie on the bed. Lucas wrapped his arm around her middle who had her back to him. He kissed her on the neck. "Any requests?"

"I'm up for anything. Chess. Movie... Kissing." Lucas could hear the smile in her voice.

"Like this?" He inquired, continuing to kiss a trail on the back of her neck. Josie uttered another moan. Electricity ran up and down her body. Lucas was making her feel sensations she had never felt before. It was electrifying. Lucas rested his head on the pillow, smelling Josie's hair. Josie yawned.

"Night, Josie," he chuckled.

"Night," she whispered.

They both feel into a deep slumber.

**AN: Thanks to anon and guest who reviewed. It's nice to know it's appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this instalment. So tell me what you think. **


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost midnight when Corrine and Marshall walked back to her and Josie's room. Not wanting to wake Josie she opened the door as slowly as possible.

"Oh my god," Corrine whispered.

"What?" Marshall asked.

Corrine gestured towards Josie's bed. Lucas and Josie were both snuggled up together in the tight space of the single bed.

"Wow, what happened to those two while we were gone?" He asked.

"No idea." Corrine's mouth was in a perfect 'o' shape. She couldn't believe it. "I thought she was still into Vaughn."

"No way," Marshall whispered back. "Josie's been mad at Vaughn for ages. There is no way that Josie wants to get back with him after all the stuff his told his father. Besides, Lucas has had a thing for Josie since the day she arrived here. You should have seen him earlier today."

"Why? What did he do today?"

"Nothing really. He just gets all quiet and lost in his head whenever he's thinking about her. But now..." Marshall said, grinning. "Good on him."

Corrine smiled with him. "I better get some rest."

"Right," Marshall leaned in towards Corrine and kissed her gently on the lips. "See you tomorrow Corrine."

"Bye. Thanks for tonight."

"You're welcome." He smiled.

Marshall couldn't help but shake his head, wondering how on earth Lucas did it, and how he all of sudden made his first move. Maybe that's what Lucas was quiet today.

Marshall was only ten feet away from his room when he heard a murmur downstairs. It sounded like Victor. Marshall dropped to the floor, looking down onto the first floor to find Victor and Mrs Durst coming out of her office.

"I can assure you, Mr Pearson," Mrs Durst said nervously. "There is nothing going on with the science club."

"Just keep an eye on them, Amanda. And make sure Professor Zachary is behaving like a science teacher ought to."

"Like I said, Professor Zachary is one of the finest science teachers we've ever had."

"Just do it." Victor demanded. With that, Victor stormed out the front door of the school. Why was Victor up so late yelling at Durst? Marshall felt a crazy impulse to follow him and see what he was up to. He quickly shook that thought away. Ludicrous.

Marshall jumped in bed a few minutes later and feel to sleep immediately.

Josie was the first to wake up the next morning. It has hard not to notice Lucas cuddled up beside her. She must have turned in the middle of the night as she was now facing him. Lucas' glasses rested on the bedside table and his hair was somewhat tousled. He looked so adorable that she didn't want to wake him up.

"Lucas," she whispered in his ear, tabbing him in the shoulder.

Lucas responded with a groan as he pulled the covers over his head, burying her head in the process.

Josie decided to try a different tactic. "Lucas," she chimed, fluttering her fingers under his shirt.

Josie's fingers were like ice. He shivered under her touch. Now that she had grabbed his attention, Josie flung the covers off of them both.

Lucas groaned and flicked the covers off his face. "You always this fun in the morning?" Lucas fumbled for his glasses and glanced at the clock. "Okay, I guess we should have gotten up a whole hour ago."

"Don't worry. It's an hour late. I guess it fooled Corrine though," Josie laughed, glancing at the empty bed across the room. Josie's face suddenly became more serious. "I guess they know about us then. Whatever _us _is."

Lucas simply responded by clasping his fingers in hers. "I like you, Josie. I really like you."

Josie smiled. "I like you too. Really," she added jokingly. "So what do we tell the others? That we're dating?"

"If you're still up for tonight's date then I would say we are most definitely dating." He said.

"Can't wait."

An hour later Josie and Lucas joined Professor Z, Marshall and Corrine for Science Club.

"And here comes the happy couple," Marshall announced, only to be hit in the side by Josie.

"Ow! How'd you sleep next to that?" Marshall joked to Lucas.

"One more word, Marshall, and I won't just hit you next time." Josie threatened.

At this moment Professor Z came into the classroom carrying a strange apparatus in his arms. "Now Josie, I know you wouldn't dare hurt Marshall," he said, smiling at her.

"Morning Z," said Corrine. "What's that?"

The aluminium box Z was carrying, was the size of an old VCR player. On top of the aluminium box was another box made of plastic sitting in the centre. In the plastic box, a large steel ball the size of a softball stood on a tripod with a multitude of colourful wires attached to it. The wires lead to wall of the box in which a series of switches were located. 

"This here, Corrine, is something I found in my office while I was cleaning out one of the cabinets."

Marshall looked at the machine in awe. "Excellent!" he exclaimed. "What is it?"

"Marshall, this machine here can… actually I have no idea." Z said, frowning at the machine.

Josie, Lucas, Marshall, Corrine and Z all stared at the machine trying to figure out what it was.

"Look here," Lucas said, pointing at the switches. "There's a power button, but where does its source of power come from? There's no electricity cable, or power outlet."

"You're right," said Z. "Which means it must have a power source of its own."

"Like a generator?" Asked Josie.

"Possibly… perhaps more will be revealed to us if we look at its inner workings." Z promptly turned the box over on its side.

Corrine's eyes widened. "Um, guys."

"What?" Marshall asked.

Corrine pointed at the engraving on the bottom of the machine.

Pearadyne Industries

"Well that explains it," Marshall said. "It's a big evil machine that will probably blow up the school and kill us all."

"Don't say that!" Lucas cried.

"Z, this probably needs to be destroyed," said Corrine.

"Wait, what? We don't even know what it does yet!" Said Marshall. Corrine gave him a stern look. 

"Actually, Corrine is probably right," Z said. "Had I realised this was from Pearadyne Industries I would not have brought it in."

"It looks pretty harmless to me," said Josie. "But then again, things usually do seem harmless around here, until..."

At that moment Vaughn worked into the science lab. He was greeted by a wave of awkward glances. He slowly edged into the lab.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you guys … I just left my textbook behind yesterday."

Luckily Z put an end to their silent staring. "Yes, Vaughn, it's just on my desk. Make sure you're more careful next time."

Ever since Josie had found out that Vaughn had been spying on them to his father, the science club, particularly Josie, had become very reluctant to talk to him. Professor Z sensed the tension in the room. He was not overly impressed by the group's exclusion of Vaughn, despite what was going on, which prompted him to say: "Vaughn, do you care to join us for science club today?"

Josie stared intensively at Z silently screaming at him. _No, you big idiot! Why would you say that?_

"What are you working on?" Vaughn asked, stepping towards the group and the machine.

"Z found this machine and we're trying to figure out what it is," said Corrine, trying to be civil.

"Wow, I haven't seen these in ages."

"What? You know what this is?" said Lucas.

"I used to see my dad working on them in his office when I was a kid…Hey? Isn't there supposed to be a power cable?"

Before anyone could stop him, Vaughn absentmindedly flicked the power switch on and off several times.

"Vaughn!" They all yelled, but it was too late.

The steel ball inside the box violently started vibrating as if it were causing an earthquake. Everyone tried to grab ahold of something, either clinging to the nearest desk or nearest person. Josie just grabbed ahold of Lucas when a large zap of lightning hit them both in the chest and sent them flying across the room.

The chaos had lasted less than ten seconds, yet the damage left behind was incredible. Papers feel to the floor as Josie and Lucas struggled to get back to their feet. Smashed beakers and flasks were left broken on the ground, yet the machine hadn't moved an inch.

"Josie! Lucas! Are you alright?" Z asked, checking them out for injuries.

"Oh my god. I am so sorry guys. I didn't mean for this to happen." Vaughn said, clearly panicking. Josie and Lucas simply ignored him.

Josie groaned and rubbed the back of her head. "I knocked my head pretty hard."

"Yeah, I think our heads knocked together from the impact. Mine's killing."

"I'm going to take you guys to the see the nurse," said Z. This only made Josie groan louder. "Are you okay to walk?"

"I think so. Come on Josie, I'll help you."

Professor Z addressed the other three. "Make sure that thing is turned off. I'll be back in a minute."

Leaving Marshall, Corrine and Vaughn in the science lab, Professor Z took Lucas and Josie to the medical wing.

Unfortunately Z had to leave them in the hands of the nurse in order to deal with the mess in the science room. Lucas and Josie were lying down on beds across from each other as they were being examined by the nurse.

It was concluded that they would both need to go to the hospital to ensure no internal damage had been caused.

Josie groaned yet again. _This is all Vaughn's fault, _thought Josie.

"I know. What the hell was he thinking, switching it on like that?" Lucas said.

_Did Lucas just read my mind?_

"What?" Lucas was stunned. He definitely did not see her mouth move then. _Did I just read her mind?_

"You tell _me_!" said Josie.

"Uh-oh." _This is bad._

_Very bad. _


End file.
